SNEAK PEEK - WALKING THE FUTURE STREETS OF PIKE & ROSE (PHOTOS)

Are you ready to go inside Pike & Rose, the future Federal Realty development on the former site of Mid-Pike Plaza? Street signs have been erected, design touches are popping up all over, and even the future iPic Theatres is starting to look like its future self. There's even a facade tribute to a classic Washington, D.C. company.

Meanwhile, things seem to be on-track at the PerSei luxury apartments, where a last-minute management swap had some future tenants concerned. The new management is still providing the incentives promised by the former management, including membership at Sport & Health, and a Container Store $500 gift card, according to a source. First floor residents reportedly moved in as scheduled last Friday, and upper floors in the coming weeks, which is typical for a new building.

Corby Baking Co. was founded
in Washington, D.C. in 1890, and
was eventually acquired by
Continental Baking Company;
an interesting exterior tribute
to a local legend

Turn onto Persei Place

Note the finishing decorative touches on
the facade between the windows,
and at the bottom

Lens flare along Old Georgetown Road

Grand Park Avenue ahead

These decorative markers are popping
up all over the streets of Pike & Rose.
They feature the names of tenants
in the future development

Welcome to the PerSei apartments

Pike & Rose ampersand
door handles

Future iPic Theatres cineplex (R) and
Tanzy restaurant (L)

Pad site

PerSei apartments

Intersection of Grand Park Avenue
and Persei Place

Demolition of Bally's and the
remaining remnants of
Mid-Pike Plaza

PIKE AND ROSE NORTH BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

The massive construction operation continues at Mid-Pike Plaza on Rockville Pike, in the rapidly-developing White Flint area. As I reported yesterday, the main shopping center building at Mid-Pike Plaza is officially closed to the public now, with only construction personnel and vehicle being allowed to physically access the property at this point. A separate retail center on the property, with a Starbucks, remains accessible to the public.

What you're seeing here are primarily two luxury apartment buildings (PerSei, delivering this year; and Pallas, delivering in 2015), an office building (11800 Grand Park Avenue), as well as the related retail, iPic Theater and parking facilities. I'm still struck by how similar Grand Park Avenue (looks from Old Georgetown Road) to an early construction photo I have from Rockville Town Square. I think the reason for this, is that - temporarily - the scene in the distance is very similar. You have the canyon created by the buildings on either side of the street. But in the distance, flat ground, much like what is north of Rockville Town Square.

The outcome will be radically different at Pike and Rose, however. That is for one key reason: Federal Realty owns the land beyond these buildings, unlike the situation at Rockville Town Square. Whereas town center Phase II has stalled out in Rockville, the town center at Pike and Rose will be larger in scale, by the end of all phases of construction.

PerSei luxury apartments,
now leasing

PerSei marketing banner
with Pike and Rose branding

A variety of brick colors

Floor-to-ceiling windows
in these units

Streetlamps installed

Old Georgetown Road will
be reconfigured to have
a traditional intersection,
instead of the existing curve

One of the tower cranes
on-site

Plenty of sun on this side of
the building

11800 Grand Park Avenue (center) and
Pallas (left of center)

11800 Grand Park Avenue

Interesting stone detail

MID-PIKE PLAZA MAIN BUILDING NOW WALLED OFF IN WHITE FLINT (PHOTOS)

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 25

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.

The end is nigh for the venerable strip mall structure at Mid-Pike Plaza, which is currently being transformed from a suburban shopping center into a small-scale urban city. Toys R Us had moved within the center from its legendary spot on the south end; in January, it closed altogether. Now the remaining businesses in the structure are gone, and no public access is allowed - only construction vehicles.

A separate, free-standing retail structure with Starbucks remains accessible on the property.

Here for history, and posterity, are some of the final moments, images and memories of this classic Montgomery County shopping center. Mid-Pike Plaza was born decades ago, when it and Montrose Crossing were prime real estate along the future route of the DC Outer Beltway. Later, the Outer Beltway (a.k.a. I-370/Intercounty Connector) route was moved north, and the interstate's right-of-way was designated as the future Rockville Freeway.

Property owned by the Maryland State Highway Administration that was set aside for an off-ramp from the Rockville Freeway onto southbound Rockville Pike (MD 355) remains visible on records and blueprints for the new development that is replacing Mid-Pike Plaza. Of course, the county failed to build the Rockville Freeway, as well. The Montrose Parkway was built using some of the Rockville Freeway's right-of-way, but does not have the more-effective cloverleaf interchange needed to provide the maximum traffic congestion relief.

E.J. Korvette was a tenant from the early days, a department store chain that rose to prominence along with the American suburbs, as cities declined. Korvette's was the Walmart of its time, undercutting prices of its traditional retail competitors. There is a reference to Korvette's on many old documents for Mid-Pike Plaza, as well. This was before my time, but it makes me wonder if the whole site originated as a Korvette's? And, what year did Korvette's close? Is it possible I was just too young to remember it? If you know the answers, please leave a comment below!

For now, we prepare to say farewell to a classic shopping center on the busiest commercial strip in the state of Maryland. Though it falls at the hands of urbanization, it will not be forgotten.

I'll conclude with the words of Bill Shakespeare:

“But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;  

  Thou livest; report me and my cause aright

  To the unsatisfied.”

TOYS R US TO CLOSE IN JANUARY AT MID-PIKE PLAZA ON ROCKVILLE PIKE (PHOTOS)

STORE WON'T

REOPEN ELSEWHERE

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 19:

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs. These articles provide "the rest of the story" about redeveloping White Flint not found in rosy local media reports.

A Christmas shopping visit to the downscaled Toys R Us store on Rockville Pike brought disappointing, if expected, news: the store will close for good sometime next month, according to a store employee. Worst of all, the store is not relocating; it is the end for Toys R Us here. Having split my childhood toy purchases between this location, and the also-demolished Lowen's toy store in downtown Bethesda, this conclusion is certainly a sad one for me. The original Toys R Us structure was already demolished on the other side of the shopping center; this store is essentially a pop-up affair, but still had a decent inventory. As Toys R Us winds down from its final Christmas shopping season, a closing sale is offering modest discounts of 10-30%. Under the sale's terms, there are no refunds or returns. Shelves throughout the store are increasingly bare, and most are not being restocked.

The anti-suburbia activists will say this is no big deal, "change happens, deal with it," and that urbanizing strip malls on Rockville Pike will reduce exhaust emissions. All three arguments are false.

There is no equivalent toy store anywhere in the Bethesda or Rockville area. Furthermore, Toys R Us carries multiple toy lines exclusive to its stores. Having come directly from the nearby Target, I can confirm that the selections are quite different. And when the Toys R Us was fully stocked, there was simply no comparison between the stores. I am a big fan of Target, and shop at several of their stores frequently. But they understandably cannot devote the space or depth to toys that Toys R Us can, given the broader merchandise array of a big box store. The loss of convenience and toy merchandise selection is indeed a "big deal" for downcounty residents.

Change may happen, but in this case, the desire of parents and children to buy toys has not changed. Development decisions cannot be made in a vacuum, but must take into account the needs of current residents, and the general economic best interest of the area. There is no convincing argument for the destruction of a successful commercial area like Rockville Pike. And even less logic behind one that then banishes the longtime businesses whose stores are demolished. Change in Montgomery County today is primarily driven by development interests, even when other business interests are damaged in the process.

Finally, urbanization of White Flint and Rockville Pike is leading to more driving, not less. The patrons of demolished businesses astronomically outnumber the future residents of luxury buildings in the area. When that Hallmark ornament cannot be found in White Flint, or that Toys R Us-exclusive toy must be had for Christmas, shoppers don't deprive themselves - they hit the road. And now their shopping trip burns several times the amount of gas. So we've made our community less convenient (unless your life revolves around $100 restaurant dinners and high-end shopping 365 days a year), and increased auto emissions, to boot.

In what is becoming a "disposable society," there are costs. Welcome to the dark side.

More articles in this series:

White Flint Mall demolition, phase one (Photos)

Phase one demolition continues (Photos)

The Cheesecake Factory goes dark at White Flint Mall (Photos)

QUIZNOS CLOSES AT 11802-D ROCKVILLE PIKE (PHOTOS)

Quiznos has closed its Mid-Pike Plaza restaurant at 11802-D Rockville Pike. As you can see, the sign on the storefront is gone, and the windows are covered.